Short writeup, but summary is at the end.

Battleplan: Scorched Earth

Armies:
Points: 2000
Free Peoples/Bretonnians:
5 Grail Knights
8 Knights od the Realm
5 Freeguild Outriders
10 Freeguild Handgunners
3 DemigryphKnights
16 Peasant Bowmen
16 Peasant Bowmen
10 Freeguild Greatswords
1 Empire General (general)
1 Noble Champion
1 Battlemage
1 Damsel
1 Trebuchet

Beastclaw Raiders:
1 Frostlord on Stonehorn (Tokens of Everwinter)
1 Hunter (Pelt of Charngar), general (Everwinters Master)
1 Butcher
3 Gore Gruntas
3 Gore Gruntas
4 Mournfang Pack
2 Mournfang Pack
2 Frost Sabres
2 Frost Sabres

Braggoths Beast Hammer

Skal 

Free People put down some points less, rolled on Triumph Table and got to reroll wounds.

1st ROUND
Free Peoples: I gave initiative to Free Peoples. They did not move, just collected points and were caful to position themselves so that Hunter would not ambush Bowmen or Trebuchet. Trebuchet bombarded Gore Gruntas but rolled low damage, handgunners` chief missed. Bowmen could not shoot - I had deployed far back.

Beastclaw:  There was no point in sitting and taking fire, so I ran forward, hoping to get double turn. Butcher gave Mystic shield to Stonehorn and +1 to hit from Cauldron. Everwinter powers did nothing.

2nd ROUND
Free Peoples: I didn`t get the double turn. Trebuchet did 6 damage to Gore Gruntas. Grail Knights (pale shadow of their former glory after GHB 2017) did 2 damage to Stonehorn. Bowmen arrowstormed Gore Gruntas, did some damage. Outriders rolled snake eyes for charge.

Beastclaw: Charges for the Beasthammer! Butcher gave Mystic Shield, Everwinter gave reroll Saves of 1. Hunter appeared behind Bowmen. ALL my charges were successful, buffed up (+1 to hit from Butcher) Frostlord on Stonehorn did 3 (!) wounds to Grail Knights. Gore Gruntas managed their 8" charge and got D3 for damage. Gore Gruntas and Mournfangs attacked in team, killed 6 Knights of the Realm (2 remaining fled after Battleshock) and and other group killed Outriders. Frost sabres charged into Bowmen (to deny the arrowstorm) and Greatswords. Did no damage but somehow survived and therefore Greatswords could not charge Hunter and Bowmen could not arrowstorm later. Hunter failed in shooting.

3rd ROUND
Free People: Trebuchet wounded Mournfangs, Handgunners killed Gore Gruntas. Noble Champion wounded Mournfangs. Mournfangs were now without bonus to hit, therefore did nothing against Noble Champion. Greatsword and Bowmen killed Frost Sabres. Demigryphs killed Mournfang.

Beastclaw: Butcher made Mystic Shield, but failed in other things and gave himself 4 mortal wounds. Stonehorn charged Greatswords, killed them all. Mournfangs killed Demigryphs, piled in to Hangunners, one lonely Mournfang killed Noble Champion.

4th ROUND
Beastclaw: Stonehorn ate Tokens killed all Bowmen. Gore Gruntas killed Empire General, Mournfang some Handgunners and Bowmen. At that point we ended the game - no chance for Free People to get more points.

SUMMARY: Free Peoples list was everything he got plus some proxies, it missed heavy hitters and chaff. Also, Bretonnians lost Free People keyword in GHB2017, so his army didn`t really work. Mostly I wanted to know how Beastclaw does.

After that one game Frostlord on Stonehorn does not seem that great: if he gets his attack and buffs (to hit from the Butcher), he`s better, but without buffs... well, 3 wounds to Grail Knights is not really anything you expect from 25% of your whole army. Against bad saves he can do a lot of wounds due to damage 3, but high saves really bring damage down. Mounts` 4+ to hit means he rarely hits anything. Tokens of Everwinter really helps to keep the damage higher (but this does not help the mount) and keeps him alive. I still cannot decide between this and Pelt of Charngar. After his damage halving nerf Mystic Shield is almost a must!

Mournfangs` +1 to hit from battalion REALLY helps, they finally do some damage. However, it is hard to keep them close to Gore Gruntas - the latter don`t get Everwinter move bonus, they cannot get Command Ability bonus to charge from Frostlord (if he is your general), and Mournfang have charge bonus from banner bearer. I got lucky, but they were lagging behind Mournfangs. And immediately after Gore Gruntas died, they were back to usual 0 damage level. Groups of 4 work much much better: you lose ranged attack, but damage output is more constant.

And battalion ability to pile in and attack once per battle can be VERY powerful. 

Otherwise solid battalion, but - as expected - low model count make it hard to contest for objectives and it is hard to fulfill all there requirements required to get batallion bonus - compared to other battalions that just get the bonus automatically. But IF you get the bonus: Mournfangs can be very terrifying, Gore Gruntas less due to their damage characteristic 1 and no rend from Gore Gruntas.

Skal was weak: hunter didn't do any damage, sabres didn't do much either. Deployment to useful place was hard due to enemy positioning. I could achieve the same result without skal and probably fared better with additional mournfang unit instead of hunter+sabres. 

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